


Must Get Out

by sultrysweet



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Friendship/Love, Road Trip, Romance, Sea Devil Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-05
Updated: 2015-08-05
Packaged: 2018-04-13 04:33:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4507908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sultrysweet/pseuds/sultrysweet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ursula needs to get away from home and turns to the only person that will run off with her. Sea Devil Week Day 2: Road Trip.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Must Get Out

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger Warning: mentions of abuse and a miscarriage. Set in the mid- to late 90s.

The screen door slammed and her husband both grumbled and yelled before he got into the car and slammed that door shut as well. The engine turned over and within seconds she heard him back out of the driveway. She slipped into the kitchen, grabbed the rotary phone off the wall and dialed only one of two numbers she knew by heart.

As the phone rang and she waited to connect with the only person that could help get her out of this mess, even if only for a few days, she ran her index finger along the phone cord and coiled it around her finger. The phone was as outdated as the wallpaper and normally Ursula would care, but it was hard to take pride in a house that no longer felt like home. It hadn’t for a long time.

The line crackled as the call reached the person on the other end and in seconds the English accent she knew so well filled the ear she had pressed to the phone.

“Hello?”

“Cru! We’ve gotta go. He’s gone and I’ve gotta get out of here. No better time than the present, right?”

She knew she sounded panicked, but that was only because she was. Sometimes her husband left and didn’t come back for days, sometimes he was only gone for hours. On occasion, he also forgot something and returned in minutes. She wasn’t sure how long he would take that day, but she didn’t want to stick around to find out. She'd put up with his mood swings for far too long and she needed to get the hell away.

“Are you alright, dahling? You sound worried,” Cruella asked with notable concern.

“No, I'm not okay. I’m tired of his shit and I _need_ that vacation you and I have been talking about for years.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll be over there soon. Do you have anything for food or gas?”

“I don’t have anything,” she sadly admitted.

“That’s okay. Don’t worry, dahling. You know I always have you covered. Give me a few minutes. You’re going to be fine. I promise.”

“Okay,” she quietly said and nodded despite the fact that the other woman couldn’t see her.

“Just breathe,” Cruella added. “I’ll see you soon.”

Ursula hung up, a hundred percent sure Cruella had done the same, and hurried into the bedroom. She grabbed the biggest duffel bag she owned and moved it from the closet to the bed. She shuffled around the room working double time to gather almost all of her possessions. She stuffed her best looking and favorite outfits in first and took her most valued trinkets like jewelry her father gave her and then the octopus stuffed animal she hid from her husband because he would hate—and probably destroy—it, but she couldn’t part with it.

After ten minutes, her bag bursting at the seams with all that she'd forced into it, she heard a car pull up with the engine rumbling loudly. The driver honked twice before she heard the car door close and then the screen door was opened.

“Ursula, dahling, are you ready?”

“Coming,” she called from the bathroom as she finished collecting all the toiletries she might need. She used the remainder of space she had in her worn bag and threw it over her shoulder as she made her way into the living room.

She smiled and puffed out a sigh of relief when she saw the blonde standing in the house with a hip cocked and a hand raised as she held a filtered cigarette in it. She wore a beautiful and expensive dress that made Ursula jealous and also made her mouth dry.

“Damn,” she said in place of a proper greeting.

Cruella looked down at herself and seemed to be looking at her wardrobe choice for the first time that day.

“You like it,” Cruella asked and looked back up at her. “I don’t know how I feel about it yet. Roger insisted on it for one of his business parties at the country club, but it doesn’t seem quite right to me.”

“You look amazing. I don’t see what you could be on the fence about.”

Cruella shrugged. “Roger gives me so many material things I always thought I wanted, but now that I have it… I don’t know. I’m bored.”

“Bored. God, I’d rather be bored than beat.”

Cruella frowned and moved in closer. She lifted her cigarette free hand and held Ursula’s chin in it as she looked over her face. Her jaw dropped and her eyebrows shot up.

“He hit you again,” Cruella stated when her eyes focused on her busted lip. She'd cleaned herself up in the bathroom when she had been packing her tooth brush, shampoo, and other hygiene products, but upon closer look anyone could tell she'd come to blows with someone. “That no good bastard.”

“Like you said,” she started as she turned her head and stepped back to release herself from Cruella’s gentle grasp. “I’ll be fine. Let’s just go.”

Ursula walked past her and went to the door without looking back. She knew Cruella would follow her. The blonde hadn’t been the one to suggest a road trip when they first started talking about it, but she had been more excited than Ursula about it. Ursula had mentioned it out of desperation and longing, but Cruella was over the moon ecstatic about hitting the open road. Apparently she wanted the same kind of freedom Ursula did, even if it was for different reasons that they hadn’t talked much about by that point.

Ursula tossed her bag into the backseat of the convertible before she slid into the passenger seat. Cruella had left the car running and for that Ursula was incredibly grateful. She wiggled around in the seat to make herself comfortable and as she did, Cruella walked out of the house to join her. Within a matter of seconds both women were in the car and ready to go.

“Ready, dahling,” Cruella asked with a low voice that almost purred like the engine of the convertible.

She turned to her long time friend with an unamused expression and said, “Drive.”

* * *

They'd been on the road for hours and enjoyed the scenery but not the heat. The wind whipped through both honey blonde and near platinum blonde hair, but it only cooled them down on the highway. Every so often they had to pass through cities and swore they were stopped at every traffic light in them. The sun beat down on them as they drove farther and farther away from their problems.

Aside from skyrocketing temperatures, the trip was mostly enjoyable and greatly needed. Eventually though they needed to stop for gas and food. Neither of them had eaten before they took off and under the blistering sun, water was necessary at the very least. The next town they passed through they stopped at the first gas station they saw where Cruella whipped out a full roll of cash to pay for a fill up. From there, they found a roadside diner and had a decent lunch by Cruella’s standards. Ursula, however, thought the meal was exceptional. It was hot and well-cooked and she hadn’t been the one to slave over it just for her husband to compare it to dirt or trash. It was the first meal in months she had actually been able to relax and enjoy.

“Why do you let him treat you like that,” Cruella asked and motioned to her busted lip.

“I don’t _let_ him do anything,” she insisted with a straight face and a slight glare directed at the other woman.

“I’m not saying it to upset you in any way,” Cruella tried to clarify. “He just hits you way too often and you stopped talking to me about it. The last time we talked, _really_ talked, was the last time we ate out together and that was a few months ago.”

Ursula sighed. “It’s getting old. I’m tired of talking about it. It seems like all we ever talk about and it's bad enough I have to live through it every time it happens. I don’t want to _re_ live it by talking about it.”

“Then maybe you should have asked me to whisk you away sooner.”

Ursula rolled her eyes and dropped her fork on her plate. She wasn’t going to finish her meal if she was too frustrated to eat, which was how she had started to feel as soon as Cruella asked her about her husband.

“Look, your life might be glamorous, but mine isn’t. You got lucky. You landed a big fat whale that can take care of all your needs while I married someone I loved just for everything to fall apart.”

“My life isn’t nearly as glamorous as you seem to think it is. And Roger doesn’t take care of _all_ my needs. He pays for things and that’s great, but it isn’t all I want. I thought it was everything, but when you first married Alan I was jealous. Did you know that?”

Ursula laughed and shook her head. “What was there to be jealous of? We could only afford that small house you picked me up at today and we could just barely afford it at that.”

“But you had something I didn't.”

“And what's that? Overalls and a depleted bank account?”

“Love.”

Ursula blinked. She was shocked to hear that. They hadn’t really talked about the differences in their lives. Money versus companionship or abuse versus neglect. They talked about their childhood and their dreams of the future. They talked about where they wanted to go and what they wanted to see. They talked about TV shows and movies they either loved or couldn’t stand. They talked about what they used to think adulthood meant compared to the crappy reality of what it really was now they were all grown up and had responsibilies. They barely talked about their struggles. They preferred to use their time together as escape from their every day life so it was rare they explained the hardships they faced unless it was serious. And there had been plenty of times the physical abuse Ursula endured was serious enough to incur a conversation. Until Ursula refused to talk any more about what had then become a regular occurrence.

“You were so in love,” Cruella continued. “You and Alan were all over each other and happy and willing to make anything work. Roger was never really like that. He’s always been distant. He buys everything I might want, but he buys it to make sure _he_ looks good with his trophy wife on display all the time. I’m nothing more than well-paid arm candy.”

Ursula frowned and reached across the table. She placed a hand over the other woman’s wrist and pulled Cruella’s hand toward her before she turned it over and took it in hers.

“Well, if it makes you feel any better,” she started, “Alan and I haven’t been that way in years. You’ve got nothing to be jealous of when you look at us. The day we moved into that house was such a long time ago and that was one of the last times either one of us looked at each other with anything more than disdain or resentment.”

“Somehow that makes me feel worse,” Cruella admitted with a bit of laughter in her voice.

Ursula furrowed her brow. “Why is that?”

“Because, dahling, I never wanted to see you hurt. And I knew what I was marrying into for the most part. I never expected to love Roger, or for him to love me. I didn’t, however, expect to feel so alone and…empty, but it’s the price I paid for a luxurious life.”

“I paid a price for choosing a life of love and happiness,” she grimly stated.

“You shouldn’t have. That was your no good husband’s fault. He doesn’t know how to treat a wonderful woman like you and that’s a shame.”

“He used to treat me right. And then…” she trailed off as she remembered when everything changed. It was too painful to put in words, especially in public.

She felt Cruella squeeze her hand and she looked up into beautiful blue eyes. She flashed a brief and sad smile, on the verge of tears thanks to the torturous memories that never left her mind or her heart.

“Why don’t you and I get out of here,” Cruella suggested. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, but we can go somewhere more private if you decide that’s what you want.”

Ursula smiled again, that time out of appreciation and not sadness, and nodded before she let go of the blonde's hand.

Cruella flagged down a waiter and her lips curled into a bright smile as she looked at Ursula. “I also recall there’s a place on the way you’ve been dying to visit for years.”

* * *

Her father’s summer home. She hadn’t been there since before she was married. It wasn’t very large. Ursula didn’t come from money. Cruella came from some, but she wasn’t rich like Roger. She and Cruella came from slightly different worlds, but that hadn’t stopped them from becoming friends when they’d met in high school.

Cruella had been to the summer home once in all the time they’d known each other and it had been right after their high school graduation. Ursula and her father had invited the girl to stay with them for a week and while the blonde was there with them, she’d done nothing but express how much she loved it. Going to the summer home hadn’t been about Cruella, though. It spoke volumes that even after all the years that had passed, the other woman still remembered where it was, but that was the extent of what the summer house had to do with Cruella. Her friend had brought her here because she regretted not taking more time to spend even a weekend vacation there, especially when her father asked her to stop by while he stayed there.

“I know you didn’t want to come here unless you made peace with your father, but now seemed like as good a time as any to stay here for a night or two,” Cruella said as they pulled up to a single floor cabin by the lake.

Ursula smiled as she kept her focus on the cabin and nodded a few seconds after Cruella’s words finally registered.

Cruella parked the car and waited until Ursula opened the passenger door before she made a move to exit the car as well.

“It’s just as I remembered,” Ursula dreamily said as she took another look at the cabin from beside the car. She took a deep breath and slowly released it a moment later as she shook her head in astonishment that she’d finally made it out to the cabin. “Thank you. For bringing me here.”

“Of course,” Cruella said before Ursula turned and grabbed her bag from the backseat. “Is there still a key under the mat?”

“It should be. If it’s not then he moved it somewhere else, but if that’s true I’m sure there’s still a spare out here somewhere.”

Cruella reached the porch first and hummed as she started to look for the spare. It wasn’t beneath the mat after all but instead hidden under the flower pot beside it.

“I figured he’d probably move it eventually. He used to move it around every summer,” Ursula said. “Once my mother got sick, he didn’t bothered to move it. I tried to do it the last summer I spent here with him, but he was only frustrated he couldn’t find it later when he’d given me the main key and I was out somewhere. He had to wait outside for about an hour before I showed up and told him it was _above_ the door.”

As Ursula spoke, Cruella jammed the key in the lock and opened the door. She pushed it open and allowed Ursula to go in first. At that point, Ursula’s legs moved without her conscious thought and carried her inside. It didn’t take long before her eyes scanned over the subtle changes inside and at the same time realized the cabin hadn’t been used yet that summer. Things were set up for the next time someone stayed there, but blankets were folded and the kitchen table was absent of any placemats or candles.

“I suppose we should make ourselves comfortable,” Cruella suggested and set the spare key in the bowl on the end table between the open living room and kitchen.

“I’ll stay in my father’s room. You can have mine,” she said as she walked into the kitchen and started to open the cabinets one by one. All of the glasses and dishes were clean and stacked and the sink was wiped down and empty.

“Sounds reasonable. Is there anything to drink around here?”

“That depends. What kind of drink?”

“One you can’t find at a diner,” Cruella said with a smirk.

Ursula chuckled and opened one of the cupboards built in below the counters. She pulled out the sliding shelves and revealed the normally tucked away liquor cabinet. “Gin, I take it?”

“Oh, dahling, you know me so well.”

Ursula grinned and grabbed a tumbler from the cabinet overhead. She poured the other woman a glass and handed it to her as the blonde came to stand just a few steps behind her.

“You should have some as well.”

“I think I’ll stick to whiskey.”

“Suit yourself,” Cruella said as she headed into the living room and plopped down on the couch. “Shall we talk now or do you just want to drink until we start blabbering?”

Ursula grabbed her own drink and joined the blonde on the couch as she answered, “Why plan to do anything? Why not just see where the night takes us?”

“I love the way you think, dahling. Cheers.”

Their glasses clinked and they tipped back a generous first gulp of alcohol. Ursula cringed when it burned her throat, but Cruella barely flinched.

“You’re way too good at that,” Ursula said.

“I drink like a fish,” Cruella joked. “It’s the only thing that makes my life bearable when I’m not with you.”

“Mm, healthy,” she sarcastically replied.

“I believe you’re at least partly to blame.”

“How’s that, now?”

Cruella laughed and took another sip. “If you called me more often and scheduled a lunch or something, I wouldn’t have to depend on my gin to make it through every day.”

“Ah, yes, it’s _my_ fault _I_ don’t call more often. You know my number. _You_ could just as easily get a hold of me.”

Cruella shook her head. “I’d probably end up calling when Alan is home and you know how he gets.”

“I live with him. Of course I know how he gets.”

“Someone should really teach that son of a bitch a lesson,” Cruella mused.

“What lesson?”

“A _violent_ one. He beats you, someone beats him. An eye for an eye, really.”

“Okay, this isn’t pre-Dark Ages. That rule is stupid.”

“Not when your prick of a husband thinks he can get away with what he’s doing. You aren’t his property, Ursula.”

“I know that, and he doesn’t think of me like that.”

“Then how does he think of you? The way I see it, he doesn’t respect you. If he doesn’t respect you how can he not think of you as an object, something of _his_ to control however he sees fit?”

“That’s not why he gets angry.”

“No? Tell me then, why does he get angry?”

“I’m not nearly drunk enough to get into that,” Ursula said before she gulped down a hefty amount of her whiskey and coughed as soon as she swallowed.

An hour later, she was more than drunk enough.

At some point between her second drink and her third, Ursula had gone to her bag, which she’d left on the kitchen table when they first arrived at the cabin. She’d rummaged through it until she found what she was looking for and pulled out the stuffed octopus. It had been the underlying reason Alan hit her even if he’d been yelling at her about his dinner being cold or her not having made dinner at all. The octopus wasn’t the problem. It was just a reminder. A painful reminder.

“Dahling,” Cruella called out with slight concern. “Are you coming back?”

It took her a moment, but when she was able to fight off the tears and push down the memories that flooded her mind she softly answered, “Yeah. Yeah, I’m coming.”

She took the octopus with her back to the couch and as soon as she walked around the short counter that separated the kitchen from the living room, Cruella looked from her down to the octopus she clutched in both hands.

“I still remember that day you insisted on tearing down the wallpaper in the extra bedroom,” Cruella said as she walked Ursula walk back toward her.

“Don’t,” Ursula begged with a wavering voice. “Please, don’t.”

“You went through so many shades of purple and green trying to decide which would look best,” Cruella pushed past Ursula’s plea and continued. “Alan stopped being useful after just a week. The man was a wreck. He complained he only saw the world in the colors you kept shoving in his face.”

Ursula let go of the octopus with one hand and wrapped an arm around it to hold it close to her stomach and chest. She used her free hand to reach for her glass on the coffee table and brought it to her mouth. She threw back nearly half the glass and squeezed her eyes shut tight as she listened to Cruella bring up her worst life experience.

“It took you two weeks before you could settle on a light green. Alan was away at work and you were desperate for an extra hand to help you paint. So you called me. I had nothing better to do and you knew I’d always be there when you needed me.”

Ursula sniffled and said, “I don’t want to talk about it, Cru.”

“Urs- You haven’t talked about it at all. You can’t keep it bottled up inside forever.” Ursula shook her head, but Cruella pressed on. “She would have been beautiful. She would have been smart and feisty. She would have had your attitude and your _gorgeous_ eyes. I would have given her fashion tips and taught her to swear like a sailor when you weren’t listening.”

She started to cry, but laughed through her tears because she knew Cruella’s words were the truth.

“Your little mermaid,” Cruella said with a hint of reverence.

Ursula gasped and the tears streamed down her face faster than ever then.

“That’s what you called her. When you were pregnant with her and you’d started to show, you kept talking about how much she moved. She was always rolling around and said she’d probably be a fantastic swimmer.”

She remembered it. She remembered all of it. Everything Cruella said had happened in only a few weeks. After months of morning sickness and gaining weight, accumulating stretch marks almost everywhere every day, it was over in the blink of an eye.

“Ariel,” Cruella said.

Ursula took another deep breath, but it was heavy and her chest hurt from the effort. She set the drink down on the table and abandoned it before she curled up on the couch and made herself small against the arm of it. Cruella shifted and leaned forward until there was no space between them. The blonde wrapped her arms around Ursula and held her as long as she would allow.

Ursula remembered the tears, the same as the ones she cried reliving the whole ordeal all these years later, and she remembered the pain and loss and anger. At first she hadn’t been angry, she’d only been sad. She played the “what could have been” game for a month after the doctor had told her she’d lost the baby. Ariel could have been a heartbreaker. Ariel could have been a novelist. Ariel could have been successful, could have fallen in love, and could have sang lullabies to her own baby like she had sung to Ariel.

 

All that sorrow came back and beat her down worse than her husband’s fists ever could. She had lost her daughter before her sweet girl could take her first breath. And Alan blamed her for it just as much as she blamed herself.

“It wasn’t your fault, dahling,” Cruella soothingly told her.

Ursula cried and cried, let out shouts and grunts and whimpers as she did. Cruella repeated the words over and over again, “It wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t your fault.” They were the last words Ursula heard before she finally cried herself to sleep.

* * *

The next morning, she woke up to the smell of strong coffee. As she slowly stretched, she felt a blanket on top of her that slid down her body and let a draft into the cocoon she’d made for herself as she’d slept. Cool air hit her shoulder and chest and she groaned due to the discomfort it caused. She pulled the blanket back up over herself and burrowed her nose in the top part of the blanket tucked under her chin.

She heard a faint chuckle from over the top of the counter space between the living room and the kitchen.

“Are you alright, dahling? I’ve made us some coffee. Maybe you’re interested in something to perk you up,” Cruella asked as her voice drifted closer.

Ursula sighed and took a moment before she opened her eyes and saw Cruella take the final few steps before she stood directly in front of the couch. Cruella crouched down and held a hot mug of coffee under her nose that forced her to get a good whiff. It was just what she needed after a night of drinking and crying over her past struggles. She lifted her head and started to sit up.

“There we are,” Cruella practically sang as she pulled the mug away from Ursula’s face and set it down on the table. She swooped in and sat down where Ursula’s upper body had previously rested.

Ursula rolled her eyes and readjusted her position to accommodate the extra body on the couch beside her. When she moved to sit on the couch with her legs folded underneath her, her hand pressed down on something soft that was smaller than a cushion. She looked down between her and Cruella and found the octopus. She picked it up and placed it in her lap. She stared down at it for a long moment before she reached over and grabbed the mug from the table. She took a small sip and closed her eyes as she enjoyed the taste and relaxed just a little bit. When she was satisfied, she lowered the mug and held it in front of the octopus in her lap to keep the coffee from any possibility of spilling onto the octopus.

“I bought it for her when I came up with the name ‘little mermaid,’” she stated. “They didn’t have any mermaids at the store, but they had other sea creatures. She…Arielhadn’t moved all day, but when I picked up the octopus and thought for a little while about getting it, she kicked. I bought it minutes later.”

Cruella flashed her a smile for a brief moment and placed a hand on her thigh. She slowly started to rub her hand up and down her thigh to comfort her and it worked. Ursula clenched and unclenched her curled fingers around the mug a few times before she started talking again.

“Alan…he was sad at first like me, but as soon as he reached anger he stayed there. He didn’t go through the rest of the stages of grief. Anger was just how he dealt with everything after that. So…if I don’t do something the way he likes it, if he’s had a hard day at work and I made a mistake, it all comes back to losing Ariel.”

“He blames you,” Cruella breathed out with disbelief and slightly wide eyes. “What a bloody wanker. You might have been the one carrying her, but you in no way did anything to compromise her health. It just happened.”

“It was my body. My fault.”

“No. No, dahling. It wasn’t. It’s not that simple. I swear, if I ever see your no good, low life husband again I’ll beat the ever living shit out of him.”

“I might just help you with that.”

“You should!”

Ursula laughed and Cruella cracked a smile. Her thigh rubbing turned into a few reassuring pats before she leaned over and rested her head on Ursula’s shoulder.

“I know it’s hard for you to talk about and I know it eats you up inside every day, but…you know I’m here for you. Always,” Cruella said.

Ursula took a deep breath. For a moment, it was the loudest and only sound in the room. She then closed her eyes and rested her cheek on Cruella’s head. “I know.”

Cruella reached over and carefully stroked her fingers over the octopus like slow and deliberate brush strokes. Neither one of them spoke for a while after that. They sat together in silence with only their heartbeats and breathing to fill the cabin and both nearly fell back asleep curled up beside each other on the couch.

At least thirty minutes passed before Cruella removed herself from the couch because her bladder demanded it and once she was out of the living room, Ursula picked up the TV remote and tried to find something to watch. There wasn’t much selection, but she was sure anything was better than more silence. It hadn’t been uncomfortable, but it probably would become uncomfortable the longer they let it stretch on. There wasn’t anything to watch except for a rerun of the Golden Girls, which was admittedly better than nothing. It just wasn’t what she _or_ Cruella preferred to watch.

Cruella came back into the living room and smiled at Ursula before she had a chance to see what was on the small TV that sat on top of a table in front of the front cabin window. As soon as she heard that Southern Bell character Blanche speak, she groaned and rolled her eyes on her way over to the couch. She plopped down beside Ursula again and sagged against the woman’s side as she glared ahead at the television.

“Must we watch this,” Cruella asked with an overdramatic sigh.

“It’s either this or more quiet time.”

“Or…we could get out this place and go take a look around town. Go shopping?”

Ursula laughed and shook her head. “You always suggest shopping.”

“Because shopping is always a brilliant thing to do. Come on, dahling. I’ll buy you something nice.”

“Uh, Cru? If we go shopping, will we still have enough money to get around? You know, gas, food, lodging?”

“Well, we don’t have to pay if we keep staying here so that takes care of lodging. As for food and gas, we should be able to get by for a while. I cleared out the safe in Roger’s study. He’ll be _furious_ when he finds out, but if you ask me I’ve earned this money and so much more.”

“Okay. Next question, how long will we be out here? We have to go back at some point, don’t we?”

“ _Do_ we,” Cruella asked with a smirk and raised eyebrow.

The thought had briefly occurred to Ursula once before she’d left the house the day before, but it had been a fleeting thought and not at all a serious consideration. Cruella made it sound so easy. Don’t go back. Go forward. It wasn’t that simple, she knew, but that didn’t keep her from wanting nothing more than staying out on the road or in her family’s summer home for as long as possible.

Cruella took her by the hand and made sure she dressed herself before they went to the convertible and drove off to spend their stolen fortune.

* * *

Cruella’s arms were lined and weighed down by several shopping bags from the local mall they'd only ever been to at Cruella’s insistence. The woman had bought dresses galore and a heavy fur coat. She bought Ursula a green scarf and two dresses, one black and one dark purple and shoes to match both of them. Half of Cruella’s own assortment of bags were full of various footwear to pair with all of her new outfits as well.

The blonde was all smiles as they headed back to the convertible and Ursula smiled too. She found it to be the easiest thing in the world in that moment because when Cruella smiled, everything in her life bloomed and her vision brightened. Her emotional weight was momentarily lifted and she felt like she could breathe. She wasn’t sure when that started, when she first felt that way, but she knew without a doubt it had been that way for a while.

“What should we do next, dahling,” Cruella asked as she set her bags in the backseat. “Dinner? A movie perhaps?”

“That sounds perfect,” Ursula agreed and placed her bags next to Cruella’s in the back.

Cruella looked up at her with a wide grin, amused and excited, but a moment later her eyes focused on something over Ursula’s shoulder. Her grin faltered and instead she stared ahead like a woman in heat.

Ursula looked over her shoulder to see what suddenly had Cruella’s attention. She furrowed her brow and looked left and right, but all she saw was a car dealership with a lot full of older model cars and some not so old. They were all waxed and buffed and in amazing shape considering there weren’t many other cars like them on the road anymore, but Ursula had no idea why the other woman was interested.

“Do you see it,” Cruella breathed out, so in awe as her eyes stayed mainly focused on the dealership but occasionally glanced at her. “Oh, isn’t it gorgeous? We have to get a closer look.”

Ursula didn’t understand it and she knew they had no reason to look at cars. They already had one.

It was across the street, but Cruella insisted on taking all of their possessions with them to keep them close and safe. After all, they brought almost everything they had to their name except for what was back at the cabin. So they drove across the street and parked in front of the dealership before Cruella jumped out of the convertible. She was eager and her eyes gleamed with lust.

The blonde damn near sprinted toward a row of black cars and as much as Ursula still didn’t get it, she shook her head and laughed as she followed after the other woman. Cruella never ceased to surprise or entertain her.

“Good afternoon, ladies,” a round and balding man appeared from the sales floor. “Anything I can help you with today?”

“Yes,” Cruella quickly replied. “I’d like a look at that one.”

Cruella pointed to a car that must have been at least several years old, but by its appearance seemed to be almost brand new.

“Ah, that one’s a great choice. Drive’s smooth, looks amazing, _purrs_ like every fine vehicle should,” the salesman smiled as he spoke and made sure to walk them to the car Cruella desperately wanted to see. It didn’t take long before they stood in front of the car. Cruella was completely taken with it.

“Yes,” Cruella drew out the word and moved a hand over the hood of the car but let her hand hover. She was careful not to touch the showroom ready Zimmer Golden Spirit. “I bet she runs like a dream.”

“She does,” the salesman confirmed.

Cruella stared at the car for another long moment before she turned to Ursula and the salesman. She focused on the man when she asked, “How about a test drive?”

“Afraid not, but…” he paused for a moment and opened the driver’s side door. “You can sit in it, get a feel for it.”

“That’s a shame,” Cruella pouted. “Why can’t I drive it?”

“Not enough workers around for even one of us to take time away from the dealership and last time… Well, last time someone stole the car off the lot before the salesman could make it around to the passenger door.”

Cruella flashed him a smile that looked more like a grin and not at all genuine. “I’m sure I don’t need a test drive to know if this car is worth it.”

Cruella slipped inside and smirked at Ursula over her shoulder before she faced forward and settled in the seat. She took a deep breath through her nose and relaxed as she ran her fingers up over the steering wheel.

Ursula looked at the salesman who was smiling before he then motioned for her to join Cruella inside the car. She sighed and walked around to the other side of the car before she lowered herself inside to sit beside Cruella.

“Oh, dahling, it’s perfect,” Cruella said only a few seconds later.

“Yeah. I- I guess.”

Cruella frowned and looked over at her. “What? You don’t agree?”

"It's a car, Cru. I don't know why you'd be getting all...hot over a car."

Cruella grinned again, wider while her eyes glimmered with what Ursula recognized as hunger. "Have you ever felt an engine roar to life beneath you? It's intoxicating. Do you feel the leather, dahling? It's exquisite. And when you drive a car like this, there's a rush. One you don't get from the wind when the top is down on a simple little convertible. It comes from control."

Ursula gulped and then licked her lips, her entire mouth suddenly dry. Cruella's voice was deep and a little raspy. The woman couldn't have sounded sexier if she tried and she was talking about a car of all things. To anyone else, however, the conversation could have easily been taken out of context.

"If we could give it a test drive, I'd let you get behind the wheel and feel for yourself exactly what I'm talking about," Cruella added.

Ursula turned away and looked through the windshield for a split second before she checked the side mirror to see where the salesman had gone. Not far. He smiled and waved at her as he met her eyes in the mirror. She somehow managed to refrain from rolling her eyes and instead, looked around the lot before a paper taped to one of the light poles caught her eyes as it flapped in the wind. She squinted as if that would help her see the paper better from where she sat across the car lot and just then, the salesman knocked on the rear window on Cruella's side of the car.

"What do you think," he asked through the closed doors and continued to smile.

Ursula opened her door first and kept her focus on the paper that had a black and white printed picture of something on it that even from her distance looked familiar.

"I love it," Cruella answered the salesman as she exited the car. "I'm not sure I should invest in it, though. Now might not be the best time to make such a large purchase."

The salesman started to butter her up, or at least attempted to, and even brought up a few deals that would bring the price down to make Cruella's decision a little easier. Ursula was intent on figuring out why the picture she still couldn't quite make out looked so familiar so she left Cruella and the salesman to haggle over nothing since there was no way in hell Cruella could, should, or would buy that car.

And then she got a closer look at the paper posted on the light pole. The picture had been familiar to Ursula because it was of Cruella’s convertible and the paper wasn’t just a paper. It was a poster; a poster that said the convertible was stolen property. If anyone found it, they were directed to call the cops per Roger’s insistence. It was insane. They’d been gone a day. Just one day and Roger was claiming Cruella stole the car? Just one day and already there was at least one flyer posted about the theft in a city about seven hours away from where they lived?

Ursula hurried back over to Cruella who was arguing with the salesman. She smiled at both of them before she gently grabbed Cruella’s forearm and said, “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

Cruella frowned and furrowed her brow. She seemed both concerned and confused.

Ursula looked over to the salesman and smiled again, bigger and faker than it had been a few seconds prior. “Will you excuse us please,” she asked the salesman and barely waited for his response before she pulled Cruella a few feet away.

“Dahling? What’s this about?”

“The car. Roger reported the convertible stolen,” Ursula explained and gestured with a jut of her chin, a subtle enough movement of her head, to the poster.

“What? That is _ridiculous_. It’s _my_ car.”

“Did he pay for it,” Ursula asked.

“Well, yes, but—”

“Is the car in his name?”

Cruella sighed and confessed, “Yes.”

“Then technically it’s his and he lets you drive it.”

Cruella rolled her eyes.

“I know hearing that sucks and I wish it wasn’t like that, but look what he did,” Ursula explained. “Less than a full day with it out of his driveway without a word from you and he thinks it’s either really stolen or he just doesn’t like that you have it and he doesn’t know where either of you are.”

Cruella mirthlessly chuckled. “If the latter is true then he only cares that he doesn’t know where his precious car is. He doesn’t give a damn about me. Never really has.”

Ursula nodded. She understood that. They’d talked about it a few times. They’d never discussed it in detail, but Ursula knew from the few conversations they’d had about it that Roger never showed her affection. He never said “I love you” or even held her hand. They’d married the quick and easy way. It had been a small moment in city hall and all they were really there for was the marriage license to make it legal. They hadn’t exchanged original, from the heart vows and they hadn’t invited anyone there except for one of Roger’s associates to serve as their witness. Their lack of a ceremony reflected the rest of their marriage. Quick and easy. Cruella was arm candy. Cruella received an allowance. Cruella had no real input on anything, but she never cared enough about Roger or what he did to want to speak up about anything anyway.

“What are we gonna do,” Ursula asked after a moment.

Cruella looked around the dealership lot. She took a deep breath and quickly exhaled, sharp and short. Her eyes wandered over to the Zimmer again and she stared at it for a few seconds longer than necessary. “I know exactly what we’re going to do.”

Ursula furrowed her brow and watched Cruella walk back over to the salesman. The next words she heard out of the other woman’s mouth were, “We’ll take it. The deal as we last discussed. Forty percent marked down, topped off fluids and a spare included at no extra cost.”

“What?!” It suddenly felt like the world was spinning. Ursula couldn’t believe what she’d heard. “The last thing we need is a car.”

“Done,” the salesman agreed to Cruella’s terms with a proud smile.

“Nonsense, dahling. A car is just what we need,” Cruella said to her over her shoulder.

“Come inside,” the salesman added. “You can sign the paperwork, make the initial payment, and get the keys.”

Cruella followed the salesman and Ursula followed Cruella. She sighed and rubbed the fingertips of her index finger and thumb against her forehead. She had no idea how much money Roger had kept in his safe, but she doubted they would have enough to pay for the car and keep living on their own away from home. Not if they spent more money than they earned and in that moment they earned nothing. Ursula had a job, but she didn’t like it and couldn’t return to it because it was too close to Alan and she did not want to have to face him again. And Cruella hadn’t had a job. Ever. Except for the summer they’d both worked at the local diner near the cabin and Cruella hadn’t been very good at it. She also complained about it almost every day as long as she worked there.

But they bought the car. Cruella paid what she could for it with cash she hadn’t made herself. She’d worked for it, sure, but it wasn’t hers to spend. It seemed they were going to be living like thieves, at least for a little while.

As soon as Cruella was handed the keys, she almost jumped up and down with joy and dashed back to the car. When the salesman stopped following them and they were almost completely on their own, Cruella finally explained her decision to Ursula.

“We’ll leave the convertible where it is. If someone finds it, they sure as hell won’t be able to find us.”

“Wait, what does that mean? Why wouldn’t they find us,” she asked.

“Because, dahling, we’re getting the hell out of here. For now. We can always come back, but right now I think you and I should take a vacation. Maybe visit the West Coast?”

“Sounds like a dream,” Ursula breathed out and considered it. Her lips twitched into the faintest of smiles as she imagined sand, sun, and freedom.

“It can be a reality,” Cruella said as she stepped closer to Ursula and grabbed her hands. “We can go where we want, do what we want. Dahling…we can be free. Together.”

Ursula looked deep into Cruella’s eyes. Blue eyes gazed at her and held so much truth, so much longing and desire. It wasn’t a sexual desire either. It was the desire to find a new life. Ursula recognized that look from the mirror. They wanted the same thing and even if Cruella never desired her as Ursula desired to be with Cruella then maybe what they had in common, maybe being just friends, was enough.

“Let’s go,” Ursula said and nodded, her smile more noticeable in that moment than it had been since they stepped foot onto the dealership lot.

Cruella exhaled with such relief and smiled back. She let go of Ursula’s hands and turned to the car. Ursula followed and the two of them prepared to ride off into the sunset.

When Cruella started the engine, Ursula finally felt the rush Cruella had mentioned earlier. Cruella revved up the engine a few times and grinned as she wiggled around in the seat. She arched her back and tipped her head back after a moment as she welcomed every sensation. Ursula took some time to relax and then she did the same.

Her eyes slipped closed as she reveled in the vibration from the engine, in the hum and purr of the car, in the leather interior that molded to her body like a glove. She’d never felt more alive except for when she’d been pregnant with Ariel and although it had only been years, it felt like a lifetime ago.

“Ready, dahling?”

Ursula opened her eyes and turned to Cruella who was looking right at her with a serene and almost loving expression on her face. Her eyes fell from blue eyes to red lips and after a second, she met Cruella’s gaze again before she said, “Almost.”

Cruella briefly furrowed her brow before Ursula leaned in, but it disappeared along with the space between them inside the car. A moment later, Ursula’s lips were on Cruella’s. They kissed slowly and at first gently, but a wave of passion and previously unresolved tension overwhelmed them. Lips, teeth, and tongues dueled and danced. There was instantly a connection; one they’d needed and had from the start, but hadn’t acted on or found until that moment.

It didn’t matter that it took them so long to get there. It didn’t matter that what they’d wanted and needed had been right there in front of them all along. In that moment, they had each other. Forever and always. That was what mattered.

When they finally pulled apart and breathed, Ursula smiled and said, “I’m ready.”

**Author's Note:**

> Fic title comes from the song title of the same name by Maroon 5.


End file.
